Imagine a different kind of workforce, one recreated by technology. Your career is defined by an episodic trajectory rather than a single track. The global gig economy, already an $82 billion industry, becomes a human cloud, where job tasks are broken up and done by an army of freelancers. You’re hired by an algorithm, coached by AI, and virtually transported to worksites worldwide using VR.
Maybe you’ve heard, but the future of work will be defined by rapid technological transformation. Before you roll your eyes and drift into clichéd visions that pit human workers against robots, consider how drastically these advances will change the way we experience work.
Seriously, take a minute. We’ll wait.
Companies will have to change how they foster culture and facilitate collaboration. They will have to raise questions about data democratization and AI oversight. There will be a work-life rebalancing as machines take over mundane and hazardous job tasks. Workforces could become borderless, as countries continue to draw remote workers with digital nomad visas. Toss in blockchain, IoT sensors, wearables, platform models, quantum computing, robotic exoskeletons, and eggs, and you’ve got a frittata served fresh for a workforce revolution.
The future of work isn’t a binary between having a job or your job being automated, it’s a nuanced reimagining of every assumption we have about Workplace Experience, or as we call it: WX.
work•place ex•per•i•ence
noun. The application of UX (user experience) thinking applied to today’s workforce — its digital and physical spaces, processes, and culture.
noun. The fusion of human creativity and technological vigor in designing experiences to help us work smarter.
By understanding WX, leaders can own their responsibility in reshaping it to fit a changing world and future of work.
Bringing WX back
Last year, Citrix assembled a cross-disciplinary slate of experts to understand how to improve WX today. In a seven-part course series, we explored topics like the neurology of mindfulness, the shortfalls of “productivity culture,” and the promise of virtual community.
As with last year’s course series on WX, this year we are bringing in novel research and a range of experts—WXperts, if you will—to unpack technology’s influence on the future of Workplace Experience and explore what business leaders and employees should do now to prepare.
The future of WX’s split-screen view
Automation is just one part of the future-of-WX story. An Oxford University study assessed that at least 47% of current jobs in developed countries were at significant risk of full automation, while those remaining will probably see at least 30% of their work tasks automated. The same way that GPS slashed the mental calculus required for navigation, new AI systems are successfully automating processes as complex as preparing tax returns, citing legal precedent, diagnosing cancer, and driving.
So too predicts Citrix’s new report, Work 2035: How People And Technology Will Pioneer New Ways Of Working. In a survey of 1,500 business professionals, 95% believed that by 2035, organizations will spend more on technology than on human workers.
But there will be job creation too: From renewable energy to elderly care to immersive entertainment to AI supervision, there are huge industries poised for substantial employment growth. About a third of new jobs created in the United States over the past 25 years didn’t exist (or just barely existed) at the beginning of that period.
In truth, the extent of automation remains an unknown factor. And outlooks tend to fracture between employees, who express high levels of ‘replacement anxiety,’ and business leaders, who see automation as a way to augment rather than replace workers. Almost three-quarters of business leaders (73%) believe that technology and AI will make workers at least twice as productive by 2035. Only 39% of employees share this vision.
Another variable is the concentration of industry. Because technology can require high investment to develop, we could see either a greater centralization of businesses into a few powerful corporations that have the means to innovate, or we could see the reverse: a wide distribution of specialized innovation among small, competitive firms and freelancers.
Taken together, these two tensions lead us to four possible futures for WX, which Citrix analyzes in their Work 2035 report.
Technology will change our basic assumptions about WX
On their own, productivity-enhancing technologies are exciting: Tedious work can be eliminated, letting humans focus on creative work and personal growth, or simply work less and enjoy more leisure time. Total business productivity will catalyze, yielding to unique economic growth. We will be able to enjoy technologies like AR, self-driving cars, and intelligent healthcare.
However, our institutions are not keeping pace with technology. WX could be threatened or enhanced by technological transformation. The ultimate impact will come down to how public and industry leaders embrace technology as a way to elevate workers’ potential, experience, and impact—ultimately, driving business success.
The solution isn’t to thwart technological transformation (sorry, Luddites). Instead, it could involve a socioeconomic realignment over years in which basic livelihood and work are gradually detached. The solution could be retraining, standing up innovative industries, a shortening of workweeks, or a Universal Basic Income. This will take time and a complex system of solutions that involve workforce retraining, new industry investments, and a reconstitution of employer-employee relationships.
In short: reimagined WX.
Citrix and Quartz Creative will join you on the journey
We believe that WX is core to the success of organizations. Research shows that employee satisfaction has a direct correlation with business performance. But this satisfaction is shaped by changing factors impacting the workplace and strategies leaders adopt. To navigate this complex terrain, we believe that gathering a diverse group of changemakers across disciplines, industries, regions and backgrounds can drive innovation and bring focus to design of the workplace. And a shared vision can lead organizations to consistently champion change for the success of their employees.
That is our charter, and it’s the philosophy behind the conversation we are leading over the next several months. Alongside Quartz Creative, Citrix is opening a series of future-focused conversations on WX topics like:
- How to have “The Automation Talk” with your employees
- How to lead when AI is the manager
- What if robots ran one economy while people ran another?
- How remote work could be our best chance at fighting climate change
These WX topics will prompt a conversation, and hopefully a movement
The future of WX is ours to decide, so we want to open the conversation to all those involved: workers and leaders, voters and politicians, robots and humans.
We want to hear your predictions, concerns, and excitement for the future of WX.
These next few months you’ll be getting our visions. But today, we want to hear yours. Fill out the survey below, and share your thoughts on social with #Work2035.